MAYNARD ST. DEALINGS:
EXCAVATING THE TRUTH
See editorial page
i 1
z4c
5kb
~IA&I4il
WARMER
High-60
Low-37
0
Increasing cloudiness;
30 per cent chance of rain
Seventy-Six Years of Editorial Freedom
VOL. LXXVII, No. 154 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1967 SEVEN CENTS
THE MAYNARD ST. STORY:
EIGHT PAGES
Sky's
No
Limit
By ROGER RAPOPORT r
Editora
Second of Two PartsI
It's not every day Ann Arbor
gets a chance for a skyscraper.
Nor is it every day that threer
top officials who largely deter-t
mine the desirability of having
such a skyscraper are out of town.
And it certainly isn't every dayt
that both events coincide.
But August 30, 1965 was one ofI
those days.
As dawn broke there was out-!
ward calm. The controversial 26l
story skyscraper planned for the
corner of Maynard and William
Streets was not even on the Ann
Arbor City Council agenda for thatt
evening.
As a result the three top city
officials who had been reviewing1
the skyscraper plans, City Admin-P
istrator Guy C. Larcom Jr.. City!
Attorney Jacob Fahrner, and Cityx
Planning Director Raymond D.c
SDS To Stay'
On Campus
At Wisconsin
Student Court Blocks
WSA Senate Decision
To Oust Leftist Group
in
Ann
Arbor
Real
Estate
Martin were out of town. Fahrner
and Martin were vacationing while
Larcom was stranded but not wor-
ried about missing the meeting.
The advice of three men would
not be needed since the 26-story
building was not slated for discus-
sion that evening.
Nonentheless, Larconi intended,
to make the meeting. He rose early
at his vacation spot on Beaver;
Island in Lake Michigan and
boarded a sailboat that would take'
him to the West Michigan coast
where he could drive overland to
Ann Arbor. But "strong easterly
gales" made for choppy seas and
"the skipper was forced to turn'
back," says Larcom.
So with Larcom marooned on
Beaver Island and Fahrner and
Martin vacationing, the co'uncil
convened that evening. The Re-
publican majority promptly de-
cided to vote the 26-story apart-
ment building issue onto the coun-
cil agenda.
And Peter Kleinpell, a partner
in the William St. Company which
was backing the 26-story apart-
ment, made an attractive pre-
sentation on the new building.
Kleinpell; who is son-in-law to
Flint industrialist C. S. Mott, of-
fered to build 75 off-street park-
ing spaces for the structure, which
would hold 350-400 persons in 300
units. No students would be living
in the apartment building a block
from campus.
Addressing several Republican
council members by their first
names, Kleinpell asked the council
to waive an 18-story height lim-
itation to make way for his 26-
story structure.
The city had approved on July
19, 1965, at first reading an 18-
story height limitation. However,
council did not vote on the second
reading of the ordinance Aug. 9,
which would have made the 18-
story limit legally binding.
Instead it authorized Larcom
to "negotiate' a compromise on
the 26-story building plan.
"Essentially," exclaims Larcom,
'We were trying to use the height
issue to negotiate the William St.
Corporation "into providing suf-
ficient parking spaces."
The city administrators had
previously negotiated successfully,
with the developers of 18-story
University Towers to pay for 499
parking spaces.
Thus plans called for council
to wait until Larcom and the other
city officials completed negotia-
tions with the developers.
That night the parking nego-
tiations, studies regarding build-
ing codes, zoning and other mat-
ters were still pending with the
three city administrators.
Still, the council members list-
ened intently to Kleinpell's direct'
presentation, and by a vote of 7
Republicans to 4 Democrats voted
to "authorize" the 26-story high
rise on the condition that parking
for 75 cars be provided within 800,
feet of the building and a bond
of $150,000 be posted by the com-
pany.
The Democratic minority, which
didn't even know the matter, was
coming up that night, was out-
raged.
Said one city council member,
"It was as if the Board in Control
of Intercollegiate Athletics had
-called a meeting on a day when
Vice-President Wilbur K. Pier-
pont and Athletic Director Fritz-
Crisler were out of town. And then
on their own the board members
arranged with a wiener conces-
sionare to erect a large hot dog
stand on the sidelines at the fifty
yard marker in Michigan Sta-
dium."
When Larcom made it back
from Beaver Island, his reaction
was similar, if a bit more meas-
ured.
He fired off a lengthy confi-
dential memo on Sept. 2, 1965, to
the mayor and council smembers
(the text atpears in The Daily
today on Page 2) pointing out
that "council did not follow the
usual practice of having negotia-
tions conducted by the city ad-
ininistrator with the developer as
has been the case with all other
major city developments."
Larcom also indicated that the
"75 (parking) spaces to be provid-
ed under a loose legal arrangement
by the developer at some distance
from the site do not compare fa-
vorably with the 499 spaces se-
cured by the city administration
See SKYSCRAPER, Page 2
'U' Rejected Attempt
By Stegeman To Cut
HNigh Maynard St. Bid
TOWER PLAZA, the new-26-story apartment now going up at
the corner of Maynard and William Streets will be the tallest
building in Ann Arbor when it is completed in January 1968.
NEWS WIRE
By JIM -iECK
Students for a Democratic So- A
ciety may be a legitimate organi- '
zation on the University of Wis- R
consin campus-and then again, . t
it may not.
Nobody really knows for sure.
Last night the student court re-
versed the student senate's previ-
ous decision to oust the organiza-
tion from the Madison campus
for blocking the entrances to. a
TDow Chemical Co. campus inter-
view.
"The trouble," said Steve Rich-
ter, vice-president of the Wiscon-
sin Student Association, "is that
nobody knows who has the final
say. We don't know where we are." {
But Bill Campbell, student law-#.
yem' for SDS, told The Daily that
"We've won! We've won! We've '
won! That's all."
SDS's outgoing president, Hen-
Hy Haslach. hadn't even heard
the decision, but he told The
Daily, :I:iagin:we'l>apeal
if someone else tries to oust them
'Complicated and Ill-defined'
SDS, which appears to campus
observers to be existing only by UAC WELC(
ed and ill-defined" process of stu-
dent law, was told by Hall Kriger, Roslyn Braeman, Don Tuch
student chief justice, that they president, president and co
"had been denied due process." are collecting 1500 signatur
Kriger went on to say in the 20 welcome to President-design
page decisionrrendered by the obtaining the signatures last,
three-man court that if the stu-
dent senate ever again tries to
oust any organization like it did FPA MEETING:
* a Ah'm~-I ~ ' a"f-cic Vudfl ""Q611
oJoaU11 il111 tU I
Of Music Sch4
Editors Note:.
The University yesterday re-
leased this statement of facts
concerning the sale of the old
University School of Music
building at 325 Maynard Street.3
1'i
0
ha
I ciL ll1 A7 11Ann Arbor land developer John
C. Stegeman tried and failed to
get University permission to "re-
duce" his winning bid of $161,500
y - for school-owned property at 325
calf of a corporation yret to beMaynard St. to $135,000 "after
.alf of f orp atin1ytt seeing the other bids" at the Feb
)rmed, for $161,500. 11, 1964, bid opening the Univer-
That same day, !after seeing the sity said today.
ther bids, Stegeman asked per- The disclosure came in response
nission to reduce his bid to $135,- to a Daily report yesterday that
00. The University refused the Stegeman withdrew his winning
equest. bid and the University sold the
On Feb. 27. 1964, the University land to the second highest bidder,
eceiveO an official withdrawal Of Donald H. Parsons, for $121,750.
3tegeman's ,bid and forfeiture - of Parsons acquired the land for, and
is_ e$n ni Leyi L. _on....as tne penai....ty.. . . ...
* *' *
* * *
THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON student body president,
.who waived his 2-S diaft deferment last October, has been or-
dered to report April 11 for induction into the Army, the Asso-
ciated Press reports.
Henry Drummonds -said he is opposed to the war in Vietnam
but "as long as my government and society must call upon young
Americans to kill and be killed, I cannot in good faith'continue
to accept an exemption from that burden." Drummonds would
have graduated in June.
THE DAILY YESTERDAY REPORTED John Feldkamp (R)
leading Gene Wlison (D) in the contest for City Council in the
third ward 2558 to 1773. Final totals show Feldkamp with 2519
votes to Wilson's 2129.
THE BURTON MEMORIAL TOWER CLOCK stopped keep-
ing correct time and ringing out the houi:s, half hours, and quar-
ter hours sometime yesterday. No one is quite sure when this
event occurred. Sources in the University Musical Society, which
has its offices in the Tower, confirmed this report when called.
But the head of the Plant Department, A. B. Ueker, was not
aware that anything was amiss when contacted sometime before
sunset.
THE AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE Committee is initiat-
ing a spring-summer experimental project in the Pacific North-
west which will afford 12 college students an opportunity for
f direct involvement with the problems of American society."
The students will work in small groups or individually in
projects in community development and community relations.
One group will work on several small Indian reservations in
western Washington. They will be called on to do such things as
tutoring, supplying information on local health services, and c
assisting self-help housing 'efforts. A similar project will be
carried out in Oregon with migrant Mexican-American farm
workers.
By ROGER RAPOPORT
Editor
er a
*-ord
es fo
hate
week
In December 1962, in anticipa-
tion of the school's move to thee
r t ~North Campus, 'the Regents con- S
tinued a policy of selling the Uni-
Y r s r versity's small holdings on May- h
nard Street. Some years earlier
the University had sold the print-
ing plant site. Both the printinga
plant and the School of Musicai
sites were too small for University C4
use, and the ai'ea has a high value h
-Daily-Andy Sacks for commercial purposes. ti
In November 1963, an indepen- t.
IES FLEMING 'darai;ert h
nd Walt Heiser, executive vice- 'figure was not disclosed to any w
ind atin Hvice-presidentio fUC,-potential bidder or to the public.
r a "Michigram" to be sent in In January 1964, advertisements b
Robbe W. " Fligr g."UAbean in Detroit and Ann Arbor news- s
Robben W. Fleming. UAC began papers invited bids to be received
L for the property on Feb. 11. Each
bid was to be accompanied by aw
5 per cent bid bond. No proposal
could be withdrawn for 30 days 0f
after the bids were opened. The c'
. . S
" full price was to be paid within 8
lo t o n O l 30days or a land contract was to s
be executed with 25 per cent down s
and the balance at 6 per cent in-
l n 'terest within five years.
On Feb. 11, 1964, five bids were t
received and opened in public.
The highest, for $161,500, was from
Kahn said the new ruling would 'Ann Arbor land developer John
"foster the type of educational Stegeman, who bid on behalf of $
community I would like to see a corporation yet to be formed. $
here." He said such a community The next bid, $121,750, was from w
would not exclude non-students Donald H. Parsons of Detroit. The p
who "might contribute to a stu- three others ranged from $85,000'
dent organization." down to $40,100. A recommen-
Kahn said opposition to the I dation of the Regents was pre- b,
proposal was the result of "fear of pared, proposing that the property b
ideas." be sold to Stegeman, acting in be-p
i - - - - - - ~ ~
or withdrawal.
Stegeman said he had been un-'
ble toasecure financial backing
ind thus was unable to form the
crporation for which he had said
ie was acting. Later the same day
he Regents approved the sale of
he land to Parsons, the second
ighest bidder, for $121,750.
On May 12, 1964, Parsons in-
ormed the University that he had
ssigned the contract to Stepar,
ut Parsons himself remained per-
onally responsible for paying it
ff,
On Mar. 30, 1967, the contract
was paid off.
The total income from the sale
f the property was $129,875,
ounting both Parson's cost and
.tegernan's forfeited bond. The
,712 square feet of land were thus
;ld for $14.91 per foot. The ob-
olete School of Music building
as, in effect, worthless or worse
ince it had to be razed. At that
rime the nearby property on which
gaynard House now stands was
old for $11.84 per square foot.
the University was paying about
6 per square foot for the land it
was acquiring in the central cam-
pus area.
When Stegeman's high bid was
withdrawn, the University was left
with three choices: to refuse ' all
ids and decline to sell the prop-
See 'U', Page 2
SDS, the court would immediately
reverse the decision-"under any,
circumstances."
Apparently the Wisconsin ad-
ministration and faculty have no
say in the matter. "To hell with
all of this business of faculty dom-
ination," Richter said.
"In my opinion," Richter said,
"I don't believe SDS should be
held responsible."
Richter said that the problem
must be solved. "We're probably
going to have a new constitution-
al convention in the spring."
It doesn't really seem to mat-
ter who says they're "in" and
who says they're "out." "We've
won and we're not going to dol
anything," Campbell concluded.
SDS is also fighting a "consti-
tutionality case" in the Wiscon-
sin federal courts. They are at-
tempting to extricate themselves
from a> civil misdemeanor charge
leveled at six members by the
Madison police force.
Hit SGC 7
Non-Stud
By STEVE NISSEN
The Fraternity Presidents As-
sembly of the Interfraternity
Council voted last night to "direct
the president of IFC to oppose be-
fore Student Government Council
the proposal that would authorize
non-students to vote and hold of-
ficial positions within student
organizations."
SGC President Bruce Kahn, '68,
spoke to the assembly in defense
of the proposal.
The ruling, which SGC is ex-
pected to pass tomorrow, would
allow up to half the membership
of any recognized student organi-
zation to consist of non-students.
Bruce Getzan, '68, president of
IFC, launched a drive yesterday
to solicit support for a referendum
on the question of non-student
participation in student organi-
zations. Panhellenic Association
and Inter-House Assembly are re-
portedly working with Getzan in
an effort to obtain the 1000 sig-
natures necessary to force a ref-
erendum on the issue.
The fraternity presidents' vote
was nearly unanimous in opposi-
tion to the SGC proposal.
i
.
assigned it to, Stepar Investments
Inc. At that time Stegeman was
president of Stepar and "50-50
partners" witheParsonsin the in-
vestment firm.
Parsons has been a guest lec-
turer in business law and finance
at the University since 1962. He
is a senior partner in the Detroit
law firm of Emery, Parsons, Bahr,
Tennent and Hogan, and ha s been
chairman of the board of Detroit's
Bank of the Commonwealth since
April 30, 1964.
The University said in its state-
ment that after it refused Stege-
man's request to lower his bid to
$135,000, "A recommendation to
the Regents was prepared propos-
ing that the property be sold to
Stegeman ... for $161,500."
Official Withdrawal
"On Feb. 27, 1964," the school
reported, "the University received
an official withdrawal of Stege-
man's bid and forfeiture of his
$8,075 bid bond as the penalty for
withdrawal.
"Stegeman said he had been
unable to secure financial backing
and thus was unable to form the
corporation for which he had said
he was acting. Later the same day
the Regents approved the sale of
the land to Parsons,' the second
' highest bidder, for $121,750.
"Later in the spring of 1964,
Parsons requested that the land
contract be assigned to Stepar In-
vestments Inc., which he and
Stegeman had formed. The Uni-
versity then refused the request.
Assigned to Stepar
"On May 12, 1964, Parsons in-
formed the University that he had
assigned the contract to Stepar,
but Parsons himself remained per-
sonally responsible for paying it
off," the school said.
The University said that it de-
cided not to reopen bidding after
Stegeman withdrew his bid be-
cause it "would have meant risk-
ing lower bids than had been re-
ceived, since the first bids and the
appraised value were not publicly
known."
The school had said in its pub-
lic bid notice in 1964 that "with-
drawal of any proposal is pro-
hibited for a period of 30 days
after the time set fpr opening of
proposals." Stegeman withdrew
his bid 16 days after the Feb. 11,
'U' Rejects Maidenlane Lease
By SHIRLEY NICKOVICH
Maidenlane Apartments have
been removed indefinitely from thej
list of University approved housing
by the Off-Campus Housing Bu-
reau. The suspension was made
because the lease used by Maiden-
lane does not conform to Univer-
sity standards.
According to Mrs. Norma Kra-
Maidenlane, Mrs. Kraker explain- sity may be brought in as a medi-
ed, "Originally the apartment ator on behalf of either the stu-l
owners used University Rental dent or landlord in case of any
Agreement. After following up diffi ulties arising between the,
ome complaints, however, the two.
Housing Office discovered that the Mrs. Kraker explained that3
manager had stopped using the when junior women were first
University agreements, and that given the privilege of living in off-
his own lease, which had not been campus housing it was mandatory!
brought in for University approval, that the manager of the housing'
1n~or r aratnnr-AmP "i -PC! 11it ll a niversty ea l
. .... ...-